Fijian people in New Zealand

Tenure

• In 2001, 31 percent of Fijian people aged 15 years and over stated that they owned or partly owned their own home – higher than the level of 26 percent for the Pacific population. The comparable figure for the New Zealand population was 55 percent.
• Fijian women (32 percent) were more likely than Fijian men (29 percent) to own the home in which they lived.
• Fijian people in the older age groups had a higher home ownership rate than their younger counterparts. In 2001, 56 percent of Fijians aged between 45 and 64 years owned their own home, whereas among those aged between 25 and 44 years the equivalent proportion was 32 percent.
• Fijians born overseas were more likely to own their own home (35 percent) than New Zealand-born Fijian people (21 percent). The older age structure of the overseas-born Fijian population is a contributing factor to this difference.

Rental housing

• The proportion of Fijian people living in rental accommodation increased from 47 percent in 1991 to 53 percent in 2001. Conversely, the proportion of the Fijian population living in dwellings owned (with or without a mortgage) by a member of the household decreased from 53 percent in 1991 to 47 percent in 2001.
• The trend away from home ownership mirrors the national situation, with the proportion of the New Zealand population living in rental housing increasing from 25 percent in 1991 to 33 percent in 2001.
• Among those Fijians living in rental accommodation, 22 percent lived in Housing New Zealand accommodation in 2001 – down from 26 percent in 1996.
• In 2001, similar levels of overseas-born and New Zealand-born Fijian people living in rental housing were in Housing New Zealand accommodation (23 percent and 22 percent respectively).
• Of those Fijians living in rented accommodation in 2001, 32 percent were living in households paying less than $150 a week. By comparison, the equivalent proportion for the New Zealand population was 38 percent.
• Fijian people were more likely than the Pacific population to live in households paying more than $150 a week in rent, as figure 9.2 shows.